CLASSIC STORY A LIVE-THEATER PRODUCTION ENTHRALLS YOUNG AUDIENCE.

Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande Staff Writer

GLENDALE - More than 100 students who filled the seats at A Noise Within theater Thursday cried out when, with a loud clatter, Ebenezer Scrooge was confronted by the ghost of his doomed business partner, Jacob Marley.

They sighed with Scrooge, portrayed by actor William Dennis Hunt, when his young sister came to take him home for Christmas from boarding school, where he'd grown up bookish and lonely.

And, finally, they laughed along with Scrooge when he haltingly practiced his long-silent chuckle and relished a second chance to live a happy and fulfilling life.

When the production of Charles Dickens' ``A Christmas Carol'' was complete and the house lights came on, the sixth- through eighth-grade students from St. Lawrence Brandisi school in Watts whistled and cheered their appreciation.

``You get to see the characters up close instead of seeing it on the screen,'' said eighth-grader Gloria Huff, 13, favoring the stage show over television. ``Everything is real. It looked like they were going to shoot out to you, but they didn't.''

After the production, a half-dozen of the 14-member cast, dressed in their street clothes, took seats on the stage to field questions from the audience.

One boy asked what made them want to be actors in the first place.

Stephen Rockwell, who portrayed Scrooge's nephew, Fred, said it was the opportunity to perform for a live audience.

``It's sharing with you this beautiful story,'' he told them. ``When you sit there, laughing. When you're crying. And when you're with us - you could have heard a pin drop in here today. It's that wonderful experience of being together, experiencing the same thing.''

The performance was sponsored by the Steinmetz Foundation, a member of which volunteers at St. Lawrence School. On Tuesday, several members of the cast went to the school to talk about theater production in general and this play in particular.

The students had read the book beforehand to better follow the plot, for the story was performed in the classic English diction of Dickens' era.

With minimalists sets and props but elaborate costumes and make-up, the repertory company was able to convey the story of Scrooge's redemption and transformation from a cranky old man interested only in money to a generous benefactor.

The students said they were right along with him every step of the way.

``I really liked when he changed and he started giving people money,'' said eighth-grader Grecia Guerrero, 14. ``It was sentimental and funny, too.''

The play's director, Julia Rodriguez-Elliot, said with its educational outreach programs the repertory company is trying to instill a lifelong appreciation for literature - especially in those students who might not be exposed to it regularly.

``Whether they choose to pursue life in the arts or not, they're going to be better for it,'' she said. ``And being a generation raised on television and film, we've lost that tradition of going to live theater. When students come here, they experience it in three dimensions. They see, feel - and it can be life-changing.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Theater actors portray the gripping story of Ebenezer Scrooge in ``A Christmas Carol,'' the classic holiday tale by English writer Charles Dickens in 1843. The production Thursday at A Noise Within theater in Glendale was performed for an audience of sixth- through eighth-graders from St. Lawrence Brandisi school in Watts.

(2) Actors wearing period costumes play Bob Cratchett and his poor-but- life-affirming family in a scene from ``A Christmas Carol'' in a Glendale playhouse on Thursday. After the play ended, the performers changed back into their own clothes and returned onstage to field questions from the audience on the joys of theater.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer